A robust credit offtake, especially in the public sector, and expansion in the securities portfolio, notably in debt, helped Qatar’s commercial banks’ total assets grow about 12% year-on-year in June 2021, according to the central bank data.
The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) data also highlighted that the government debt and sukuk were in the decline, while in the case of banks, there were decline in debt, but jump in sukuk in June 2021.
Both domestic and foreign assets of the commercial banks were on the increase as the total assets reached QR1.77tn this June, indicating the sector’s support to the country’s economy in the review period.
The monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) of the Qatar Financial Centre suggests strong quarterly expansion, indicating the recovery of the non-energy economy.
The domestic assets were seen expanding 12.72% to QR1.54tn, or 87% of the total; and overseas assets by 4.09% to QR230.27bn, or 13% of the total in the review period.
The commercial banks’ total credit soared 12.8% year-on-year to QR1.2tn with domestic credit expanding 13.8% to QR1.13tn; whereas overseas credit was down 1.27% to QR70.56bn in June this year.
The commercial banks’ total credit to public sector saw a huge 27.22% year-on-year growth to QR417.47bn and those to the private sector by 6.56% to QR773.08bn, while those to non-banking financial institutions shrank 2.48% to QR13.75bn in June this year.
The total securities portfolio, which is the second largest component of the commercial banks’ assets side, witnessed a 13.01% year-on-year jump to QR224.32bn in June 2021.
The domestic securities portfolio surged 14.21% to QR205.95bn and overseas securities portfolio by 1.05% to QR18.37bn in the review period.
In the securities portfolio, debt (conventional) amounted to QR146.65bn, which grew 23.34% year-on-year; and sukuk QR72.58bn, which was however down 6.58% year-on-year in June 2021.
The domestic debt shot up 26.69% on a yearly basis to QR134.7bn, while the overseas debt shrank 4.93% to QR11.96bn in June this year.
The government’s total debt fell 8.99% year-on-year to QR94.77bn, with domestic debt declining 8.69% to QR87.98bn and foreign debt by 12.72% to QR6.79bn in the review period.
The banks’ total debt shrank 9.1% year-on-year to QR8.69bn in June 2021, with the domestic component witnessing a 20.03% fall to QR5.11bn but overseas debt shot up 12.58% to QR3.58bn.
Total sukuk shrank 3.64% year-on-year to QR72.58bn in June 2021. The domestic sukuk fell 4.39% to QR69.04bn; whereas overseas sukuk grew 13.87% to QR3.53bn in the review period.
The government’s total sukuk issuance was down 4.11% to QR67.44bn, with domestic issuance declining 4.43% to QR65.2bn; while overseas issuance expanded 6.16% to QR2.24bn in June this year.
The banks’ sukuk issuance grew 5.21% to QR5.24bn with the domestic and foreign issuance gaining 1.79% and 31.91% to QR3.42bn and QR0.62bn respectively during the review period.
The commercial banks’ total claims on banks grew 16.34% year-on-year to QR158.27 this June, with domestic claims surging 22.96% to QR59.87bn and overseas by 12.65% to QR98.4bn.
The commercial banks’ cash and precious metals were valued at QR20.07bn in June 2021, which rose 23.05% year-on-year.
However, the commercial banks’ claim on the central bank decreased by 4.94% year-on-year to QR76.41bn in June 2021, of which required reserve rather grew 11.55% to QR43.35bn.
The commercial banks’ investments in associates and subsidiaries were up 0.2% year-on-year to QR44.77bn despite the foreign component declining 0.45% to QR37.81bn; even as domestic component was seen gaining 3.88% to QR6.96bn.